THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 9, 1996 TAG: 9609090059
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 48 lines
When the University of Virginia decided to admit women in 1970, school officials decided simultaneously to create a coed dormitory.
The decision upset many alumni, some of whom predicted that men and women living together would lead to sexual debauchery.
``They said the first thing you know there'll be clothes lines between the columns and the coeds will be hanging things there,'' recalled Raymond C. Bice, the university's historian.
Instead, Bice said, the change created ``a dramatic change in study habits.'' The men became more bookish, because they weren't always racing off to nearby girls' schools.
``Before coeducation, I could always park in front of the library at night. But once coeducation came, you couldn't park within a mile of it,'' Bice said.
In the years since then, coed dorms have become normal at most Virginia colleges and universities. Nationwide, more than 60 percent of college housing is coed, and it's the choice of most students.
Edward Spencer, assistant vice president of student affairs at Virginia Tech, said coed housing can range from single-sex floors, to men in one wing, women in another. In some places, men and women have adjoining rooms.
Relatively few sexual relationships develop in coeducational housing, Spencer said.
``It's the old incest taboo. . . . You create a sense of family,'' he said. ``Another reason is that if you get in a relationship and it goes sour, see a previous romantic interest?''
Instead, men and women who live together tend to date students who live elsewhere.
There are exceptions, said Jenny Tse, a senior at Virginia Tech. Several people on the fourth floor of Payne Hall where she lives are dating each other, she said, but the family atmosphere still exists.
``I like the fact I live with men. It's like having 20 brothers on the hall,'' said Tse.
State colleges have gone beyond coed housing to include a variety of special living arrangements. Among the choices are 24-hour quiet dorms, language dorms, honors dorms, business dorms, smoke-free dorms and international dorms.
``These kinds of arrangements can enhance the quality of learning,'' said Phyllis L. Mable, vice president for student affairs at Longwood College in Farmville. by CNB